March 11, 2012 6pm 60 Wall Street, Atrium
1. reportbacks
– Tucson book bomb: 3/1 reading, Sunset Park, next steps
-Illuminator debut and follow-up meeting, next steps
-Carmine Street, party-planning
-court dates/jail support
2. library working group business
-community agreements: let’s agree to agree!
3. upcoming actions
-M17
-Town Square in Ft. Greene 3/25
-other DA info
January 8, 2012 6pm, 60 Wall Street, Atrium
- book party 1/11 with DJ Spooky
- mobile library update: Scales’ reportback, books to churches, farms, other occupy’s, library programming while we don’t have a space
- consortium, digital libraries
- a physical space (revisited): final decisions on partnering w/bookstores, residencies, squats, other ideas?
-
#j17 Tuesday 1.17.12 12p – red cube @ liberty square march to wall street and then to the brooklyn bridge will be led by women and female-identified comrades glitter will be the theme of this march so bring lots of it- Mobile library presence?
- Charlie-Proposes that library no longer attends spokes councils–Betsy’s working on a proposal to reduce # of Spokes & GA’s/week
- SIS meeting Wednesday at 3PM
- Book Collection Reportback/Cataloging
- Office Staffing 1/13 1 person 1-5PM 1 person 5-9PM
- Scales-Actions that violate our principles of solidarity
- MONEY: WePay Account?/Leftover GA funds, Accounting wants our receipts & designated point-people in our minutes
- 12/20 Info/Com Hub Proposal Needs:
- Provide a public mission statement which does conflict with the NYCGA principals of solidarity
- Publish contact info on the NYCGA website. A working email or phone number will be required, and both should be provided if possible.
- Be based in NYC, and hold at least one open meeting per week within the five boroughs. The time and location of this meeting must be listed on the NYCGA website.
- Publish minutes from at least one meeting per week that demonstrate at least five members in attendance. (Groups will not be considered out of compliance with this guideline until attendance has been less than five members for three consecutive weeks)
November 13, 2011 6 pm, People’s Library
- Library’s relationship with Archives–strengthening ties (with folks from the Archives working group)
- Safer Spaces WG is requesting that OWS Library co-sponsor Community Accountability Agreement (please read document Michele emailed the group)
- Spokes Council report backs & discussion
- Organization has asked us to fill out a survey about our office space needs (this is the same thing Bill mentioned last week, but we’ve got more info now)
October 30, 2011, 6 pm, People’s Library
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW MEETING DAY AND TIME: Sundays at 6 pm (we’re going to do our best to have short meetings)
- Spokes Council and the Library (the proposal passed, so this seems like an important item to discuss first?)
- Fire extinguisher
- Meeting presence and the sentiments of those unable to attend
- Proper protocol for Emails
- Representation of self vs. library
- Oxford UP donation ($700)
October 22, 2011
Meeting at 1pm, Library, Liberty Plaza (with GUESTS from Finance, Town Planning, Structure, Mediation, Non Violent Communication, and GUEST Facilitator Sade)
- Finances, expenditures, and internal procedures regarding money, Up/Down vote on joining with GA finances (per consensus to do this at last meeting) (with GUEST from Finance)
- On site electricity (partly a matter of item 1, so it will depend how the procedures issue is settled—Eric is invited to comment on how he wants this phrased)
- Town Planning and the Library (with GUEST from Town Planning)
- Guest speakers in the library (this is my thing, which I’d love to discuss, but I can table it if more important matters come to the fore)
- Weather preparedness/library structures (possibly related to item 3)
- Spokes Council and how it affects the library (please read the proposal in advance at http://www.nycga.net/spokes-council/) (with GUEST from Structure)
- Occupy Wall Street Library at ALA Midwinter in Dallas January 21, 2012: who’s going, where’s the money coming from, our goals while there
- Internet issues, the nycga site and Library, the Internet Working Group possibly hosting our site
- Thaddeus and our policy on leaflets, zines, fliers, handouts, photocopied articles, and other forms of loose paper
- Silent reading technology
October 15, 2011
Meeting at 1pm, Library, Liberty Plaza
- What went down last night at camp
- Finance & the library–what relationship do we want to have with Finance, what do we want to do with our money
- Library representation at meetings
- Feedback and consensus on some technology questions:
- Blog Upkeep, hosting, URL, future?
- Social media password sharing?
- Electronic calendar scheduling?
- Email address options, new from GA or continue with current?
- Making laptops available for patrons?
- Power sources?
- WiFi?
- Catalog entry?
Occupy Wall Street Library 
Agenda Items for October 29:
1. Fire Extinguisher – Purchase one, make it clearly visible (unblocked by any and all obstacles), and make sure that it is an aspect of orientation when taking-on volunteers. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
2. Meeting Presence – How are the sentiments of those not physically present at meetings considered, if at all?
3. Creative Commons License – There are often inquiries regarding utilization of photographs and quotes that are found on our blog. What is our collective stance on this issue? We need to make this stance clear and easily referenced on our main page.
4. Proper Protocol for EMails – The flood of emails keeps coming, and the juggling of them by all is evidencing mixed effectiveness. What is the proper protocol for responding (reply, reply all, CC, BCC, etc), is there a central place where we can answer emails from and reinitiate a flagging system, etc.
5. Representation of Self vs. Library – There has been discussion about horizontal-ness, use of “I”, and outsiders lack of understanding our unique and beautiful working model. What is our collective stance on how to proceed with language and terminology when making representative statements?
Let me change the opening statement of my previous post to “PROPOSED Agenda Items for NEXT Meeting.”
I think we should add a discussion of the Oxford donation.
Also, my .2 on the off site folks is that it isn’t really practical for us to participate when we aren’t there. But that we can provide feedback on the blog and that that should be considered. I know I can’t be there as much as I would like, but I would still like my voice heard.
On that note, I will be back on the night of Nov. 2 or the morning of Nov. 3 and I’ll be there through Saturday night. Then I’ll head down to DC to visit that occupation and make a big ol’ happy circle around the White House with Bill McKibben. Then I think thanksgiving will be my next visit.
Despite my desire to be more involved, I’ll miss Saturday’s meeting because I’ll be out of town. I’ll be back on Sunday, and will hopefully see some of you next week!
Actually, our meetings are now on Sundays at 6 pm. This would have been worth mentioning sooner!
6. Response Protocol – There needs to be a lucid and explicit outline for response to emergent situations. We should decide upon it one final time, print and laminate it for reference by whomever may be present at time of emergency.
7. Clear and Effective Communication – Calls to action regarding emergent situations need to include all pertinent information in order to activate phone trees, team response, etc. There needs to be an open discussion as to what clear and effective communication is expected to entail.
8. Contact List – There needs to be a list of our names, emergency contact information, personal lawyer information, etc., that can be accessed by any of us that are not the victims of an emergent situation. — It is far better to get this finalized PRIOR to an emergency as opposed to thinking on it in retrospect. — Jaime has previously served as a point of contact; is her list complete and accessible by others if she is unavailable at the time an emergent situation takes place? Let’s discuss.
Fire extinguishers have already been purchased. Finance bought dozens of them and they were on site before the FDNY came in and removed the generators the other day. I do not know what the current situation is on the ground because I have been home ill the past two days, but I do know that fire extinguishers were on site and available for working groups to access.
Also I would like to make a brief comment on sustainability and organization. Maybe two minutes tops.
My apologies for missing this meeting; I work alternating Saturdays and this is my week on. Also, I announced yesterday that I work 10am-3pm; but I made a mistake. I’m scheduled 1pm-6pm.
Please read the following as it pertains to an addition to the agenda, as well as my stances regarding three agenda items:
ADD TO AGENDA
Mission Statement: — We need one.
Let’s open a thread on the Working Group page to serve as a place of open communication and idea submissions until our next meeting, at which point we will spend no more than 15 minutes discussing, editing and voting on our official statement.
AGENDA ITEM ONE
Autonomy: — A clarification of stance.
When I champion autonomy, I’m moving to defend the integrity of the library’s neutrality in the abstract sense. Autonomy is not “us controlling as opposed to them controlling,” it’s the state of being uninfluenced and maintaining the integrity of our fully accessible and perfectly collaborative working group model.
General Assembly: — A clarification of stance.
My resistance to engaging with the General Assembly is purely pragmatic; I’m obsessed with efficiency; the GA complicates things; I’m merely acting on principle.
Finance: — A clarification of stance.
Perfect example of a barrier to efficiency; see above.
My Gut: — A bit of sharing.
Simplest put, the voice inside warned against collaboration with both the General Assembly and Finance when they were first mentioned. I don’t ever have a conversation with the voice, I just listen.
Non-Profit Status: — My stance.
I absolutely, positively, 100% support any movement towards obtaining this for ourselves; wether or not we operate in that capacity until a future time. The only valid point I will accept in favor of GA cooperation is the benefit of not worrying about financial legalities, but I stand firmly on my assertion that the struggles either way are going to be of equal disturbance.
AGENDA ITEM SEVEN
ALA attendance: — Me, me, me!!
Oh, please me! Just saying.
AGENDA ITEM NINE
Unbound materials: — My stance
Despite the difficulties managing the materials in the library, I believe that unbound materials are an important aspect of what’s taking place with the movement and archives are missing out on a compelling opportunity to record much of what the minds at work are contributing to this powerful social event. The policy surrounding these materials should restrict their presence to a maximum number of copies per title, and the restriction should be maintained for all unbound material in the library. I say we enact this policy until our next meeting and take no more than 5 minutes to discuss and review its effectiveness.
Under Item 5. Weather Preparedness/Library Structures I would like to add the subcategories A) Bin Organization and B) Library Closing Time (as in lids on) This is Frances by the way. Hi.
Here is an agenda point that we wished we hadn’t had to deal with, I’m sure. Thaddius Umspter, aka Dennis Burke, the subject of a scathing article on snitchwire.blogspot.com, requests a hearing on why the library staff have been hostile to his friendly advances. I told him that we as a group, based on the conclusions of snitchwire, had decided to limit our connection between him and the library to his zine donations. This was after we had seeded his zine project with $40 of Library funds to help with printing costs. This is entirely in line with the consensus at the time to provide funds for special projects, such as Steve S’ super successful poetry group.
At present our only connection with Thaddeus is his contributing his zines to our leaflet area, and storing his materials at the library.
Thaddeus has asked for a fair hearing to tell his side of the story. I wouldn’t want the Library to start filtering contributors on the basis of moral turpitude or hearsay, and I think we can maintain the present relationship without rancor.
Correction: Steve B’s poetry group
This can be an agenda item, but what exactly is it? An announcement? A request? A proposal? What is the desired outcome? The agenda is already getting pretty long. I’ll add it for now, but perhaps we could use it as an opportunity to discuss our policy about leaflets, fliers, zines, and other forms of loose paper. There has been some disagreement and confusion about how to deal with such things. It seems like a separate item, but personally I don’t see how Thaddeus’s “story” is relevant to our decision making process. Are we “hostile” to him because of something he did or because we don’t want to inundate ourselves with the paper he is producing?
I agree that this is not just about Thaddeus. I guess what I am looking for is some kind of policy, or standard for how we plan to deal with contributors, stringers, and other various interest groups that will “cluster” around the library. Do we accept everyone no matter how repellent we find them? Who decides affinity or which “themes” are more in line with us than others? Do we determine accessibility according to political, moral or criminal grounds?
This could be a simple decision, once we address it. My own feeling is that if what Thaddeus or any other leaflet, book or zine contributor is doing is enhancing the scope of the Library, as far as broadening diversity and dissemination of ideas, without compromising our core principles of equality and fairness, (no racists, nazis, etc.) we should allow it. As far as being “inundated” with his papers, I’d say that is irrelevant, especially in view of the success his zines enjoy with the general public. Passersby routinely pick up thousands of the zines when they are displayed–there’s obviously an interest in what he is doing. If we are doing to decide who gets to display zines, who is going decide? I don’t want to do it. If this emerges as a problem, maybe we should, as another alternative, no longer include the leaflet area in our roster of services thereby removing all administrative responsibilities.
For me this is primarily an issue of sanitation. I had a similar issue yesterday with the man who set up the button making station at the table by the library. I was fine with his being there, but the litter from his machine was blowing everywhere. When I approached him and asked him if he could try to not litter the space he ignored me. I do not think that taking pamphlets from anyone is a good idea. If people would like to distribute their materials they are free to do so throughout the park, but I personally do not want to have to recycle anymore loose paper than I do on a daily basis. Frances
My view: zines GREAT, flyers BAD.
Also, the Internet group has offered to link to our blog from the nycga.net site, so our page would become a hosted subpage of theirs and there wouldn’t be a separate one for us on their site. Does this need to be an agenda item?
I think you should just give them the okay ASAP so that they can immediately start directing people here. We definitely do not want to keep track of a blog and another page.
This was on the agenda last week and was tabled, we can bring it up again this week. I’ve dealt with it, I put our web site address on the page for the library on the new web site. We can do more after we talk about it. Whatever we do, please, no one tell Internet to do *anything* until we talk about it. ;)
I told them we’d have to discuss it. They want to host our site on their own server. Also, someone from the Structure working group will be present to discuss the Spokes Council with us. The link is now up for the proposal, too. Last night’s GA resulted in much advice being offerred to Structure by break out groups… before the entire GA collapsed during discussion of the drummer issue. I served as Stack Taker for the GA last night, by the way.
I reckon minutes from the last meeting are on me. They’re in the purple book.. should I just take it home for a night? I admit I’ve been running around a lot and haven’t had a chance. But I should prioritize it. We need to add an item urgently:
* Spokes Council
It’s going to be proposed, finally, to the GA tomorrow night. Pretty important thing to be aware of since it will change the entire governing structure of the occupation movement. It will also make financing easier to manage. Anyway, their proposal is up on the http://www.nycga.net website.
OK, I can’t find the Spokes Council proposal on the site, but I have a copy of it I can scan when I get to a scanner.
Created this page, pasted in the existing agenda items for the last meeting and the next and added ” Up/Down vote on joining with GA finances (per consensus to do this at last meeting)”